International students express mix feelings about midterm election

With no choice but to watch politics from afar, various members of the campus international community expressed mixed feelings about this year’s midterm elections.

Acheick Ag Mohamed, a graduate student from Mali, said he has not followed the election as closely as he followed the presidential one. Two years ago, Mohamed had only been in the United States for about six months. He was new to the country and unable to vote, but he said the race felt more important to him.

“I really like Obama,” Mohamed said. “I like where he comes from and what he represents — unity. So I paid attention to that election more.”

Mohamed said he thought this year’s election was already decided beforehand and did not feel as compelled to follow it. He did, however, say he’s concerned about the outcome.

“I feel that the President is going to lose control of the Congress,” he said. “He’s going to have a very difficult time with his agenda now. Very difficult.”

Along with Mohamed, senior Aoun Jafarey said he has also not followed this election very closely.

While Jafarey said it is important for international students to keep up with U.S politics, he questioned whether this election held any significance for him.

“I don’t feel like it really affects me,” Jafarey said. “At this point — Republicans, Democrats — it doesn’t really make a difference.”

Other international students expressed their interest in national politics, but a disinterest in Indiana politics specifically.

Junior Peggy Li, a Chinese native who has lived in the U.S. for four years, said she is interested in America’s role on a global scale, but is unsure how local politics affect her.

“I haven’t paid enough attention to this election to find any issue that’s important to me,” Li said. “Since I don’t have any voting rights, and in general I don’t really follow Indiana politics. ...don’t really know a issue that directly affects me.”

Diana Kyllmann, a freshman from Bolivia, also said she finds the political process in America confusing.

Kyllmann, who has only been in America since late August, said Bolivia has less elections and thus, each vote is seen as more important.

“The U.S. is more complicated, because it is much bigger and has more elections,” Kyllmann said. “In my country we vote for the President and the governors for the departments and that’s it.”

Danielle Patras and Charlotte Martin contributed to this story.